Enemy of My Enemy
by metaphasia
Summary: Regina has always preferred to respond to threats with a pre-emptive strike. If she had decided that Emma was not her opponent, but just a pawn on the board, their first meeting may have gone somewhat differently. AU from Pilot, SwanQueen friendship/eventual romance.


**"I don't think that makes me evil, do you?" Regina said.**

 **"I'm sure he's just saying that because of the fairy tale thing," Miss Swan said as she reached for her glass on the table.**

 **"What fairy tale thing?" Regina asked.**

 **"Oh, you know, his book," Miss Swan responded casually. "How he thinks everyone's a cartoon character from it. Like his shrink is Jiminy Cricket."**

Regina hesitated. There was a part of her, a large part, that just wanted to deny having any idea about what Miss Swan had just said, to ignore the theory her son had apparently developed and get this woman in front of her, who might or might not be the savior who would break her curse, out of her town as fast as possible. But the fact that not only did Miss Swan know about the curse, but had correctly identified Dr. Hopper as Jiminy Cricket gave her pause. That was too many facts that were correct to be a simple guess, that was a theory that was too precise for Regina to just disregard, no matter how much she wanted to.

And, the more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed that Miss Swan, and by extension her son, had stumbled onto the truth. Regina had never been sure if Rumplestiltskin had retained his memories, Gold had certainly acted as if he remembered the Enchanted Forest at times, but never outside the bounds of plausible deniability, always things that could be explained away with coincidence. But even if Gold did not retain his memories, Jefferson certainly did remember the old world, as did Maleficent. And while Regina was sure that no one, especially not her son, had been down to visit the dragon, her cave was underneath the library, and it was possible someone had been inside that building. If it had indeed been a book that had given Henry his information about the Forest, it was possible that Maleficent had somehow managed to scrounge up enough magic to create a storybook and place it among the shelves above for someone to find. And it was also possible that this storybook was not created in this world at all, but was from the previous one. A number of items had crossed over during the curse, and while the majority of the objects that had made it to Storybrooke from the Forest were locked up either in Regina's private vault, or behind display cases in Mr. Gold's shop, it seemed like Regina found one or two new artifacts from the Enchanted Forest every year. It was certainly possible that a history book had come across, and wound up where Henry could encounter it and believe it to be a story book instead.

Regina looked up at Miss Swan, who was now staring at her since she had gone quiet while she was lost in her thoughts. And almost before she knew what she was thinking, Regina began to speak. "I'm sorry dear," Regina finally said, "I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with at the best of times, and it has been a very long day for me, even before I found out that Henry had disappeared and you then turned up at my door with him. I apologize if I was a bit confrontational with you just now." Regina was not used to acting nice towards others, so her speech was a bit stilted, but Miss Swan did not seem to notice. Regina's new plan was still only half formed in her mind, and she continued to work through her new approach while Miss Swan responded.

Miss Swan quickly nodded her head in agreement and acceptance of what Regina had just said. "Hey, it's totally understandable. I would have been worried if you weren't freaking out that your kid had run away from home and then came back with his birth mother. But like I said, I don't want to intrude on your life. In fact, I should be getting back on the road now anyway, if I'm going to get home before it gets way too late." And with that, she placed her empty glass on the table between them and stood up, swaying slightly as she did so.

While she certainly wanted Miss Swan gone from her life, never to return, Regina also wanted to find out what information was in the storybook that Henry was reading, and where (and who) it came from. And possibly the quickest way to that information was the woman in front of her, who Henry had already confided in. Which meant that she needed to keep Miss Swan around for a little while, just long enough to find out what she knew about the book.

So, against all her instincts screaming out to remove the threat that the woman in front of her represented, Regina placed her hand on Emma's sleeve as she walked past her towards the door.

"Wait," Regina said quietly, "As Mayor, I would be remiss to let you drive after you've had that cider; it has quite a kick. Please, stay the night. I have a guest room you can use, and you can leave in the morning."

Emma hesitated, the indecision clear in her eyes. "I wouldn't want to impose on you anymore than I already have," she said, her voice wavering.

"If it helps, consider it my way of saying thank you for bringing my son back and making sure that he got home safely," Regina said.

Emma visibly caved after that sentence. "Alright," she said, "If you put it like that, I can't say no. And thank you, for this. I know my showing up in your life must be hard enough, you didn't have to let me stay in your house too."

Regina led Emma upstairs, showing her to the guest room and making sure that she knew where the bathroom was if she needed it, before checking on Henry to make sure he was sleeping alright. As she knelt down next to his bed to run her hand through his hair and place a kiss on his forehead, she made a silent vow to herself. No one, not this Emma Swan, and not any of her old enemies, would take her son away from her. No one would ruin her happy ending. She would find out who had been planting ideas in her son's head.

Regina woke early the next morning, as was her custom. She quickly got dressed and ready for her day before heading down stairs to begin making breakfast. As she began making the batter for pancakes, she heard an unusual noise from upstairs. While she was used to hearing water running through the pipes when Henry got up, this morning it was coming from the wrong direction. She quickly flushed, and remembered the events of yesterday, including her letting Emma Swan stay for the night, who must now be in the guest bathroom. Regina added some extra mix to the batter, to account for the fact that there would be three people eating breakfast in her home this morning instead of the two that she had cooked for nearly exclusively for over ten years, since she had first brought Henry home with her.

Regina poured herself a cup of coffee and began to drink while she waited for the food to cook and the others to come downstairs. She would need the caffeine to be at the top of her game to have the conversation that she needed to have this morning. As she took the first pancakes off the griddle, Emma walked into the kitchen, looking groggy and half awake, still wearing her clothes from the previous night. Regina set out a plate for her on the table, but refrained from offering her coffee immediately; if the other woman was still half asleep, she might be more receptive to answering her questions and Regina would take any advantage she could get.

"Thanks," Emma said, and Regina saw a shy smile appear on her face as she sat down at the table and began to dig in, before she turned back to the stove. Regina carefully considered how to phrase the questions that she needed to ask while she busied herself with finishing cooking.

"Miss Swan," she began. "After we both went to bed last night, I found myself thinking about something you had said earlier. You mentioned that Henry had a book of fairy tales that he thought people were from. Do you know when he got it?"

Emma finished chewing the mouthful of pancake she had before answering. "No, I don't think he said anything about when he got it. Why?" Regina caught the slightly intense questioning look on Emma's face, and realized that she was aware of how important this information was to her, and curious as to why.

"He started becoming distant from me over the past few months, which is when I started sending him to therapy. Dr. Hopper never mentioned anything about what had caused it, and I was wondering if finding this book might have been some sort of trigger for him," Regina answered as casually as she could, while continuing to cook.

Luckily, Emma seemed to buy her story, if the brief glance of a chagrined look on her face Regina caught was accurate. "Oh, no," she said, scrunching up her forehead as she tried to remember, "He talked about how everyone were fairy tale characters, and how they had been cursed into forgetting, but I don't think he said anything about when he got the book."

"He didn't mention who gave it to him either, then?" Regina asked.

"No," Emma said, and now the wrinkling of her forehead had progressed into a full frown, "I had assumed it was just lying around the house." Regina let out a small sigh. This had been a waste of her time, if Emma truly didn't know anything.

"I can assure you, I owned no such book that he may have found here. Do you at least know what it looked like?" Regina asked the blonde, as she brought both her own breakfast and Henry's towards the table, before turning back to grab her coffee mug, and, after a second's hesitation, a second mug for her guest.

"Yeah," Emma answered, a relieved look appearing on her face as she finally felt able to contribute to the conversation, "He had it on his lap while I was driving up here. It was a big book, maybe a foot or so across?" she stated as she held her hands up to indicate the size of the book. "It had some kind of picture on the front in the middle, but I didn't get too good a look. I was keeping most of my focus on the road." Emma looked a little apologetic as she finished.

"That's quite alright dear," Regina reassured the other woman, as she placed the coffee in front of her as a reward, "Honestly, I am glad that you were more concerned with driving carefully with my son in the car." Emma hadn't given her much to go on, but at least Regina now knew what she was looking for.

That was when a thunder of footsteps became audible coming down the stairs and through the hall towards the kitchen.

"No running in the house," Regina shouted offhandedly towards the door, and was glad to hear the sounds noticeably slow. Henry opened the door, and she was pleased to see that he looked mildly chagrined. "How many times must I tell you, Henry?"

But the look on his face disappeared and was quickly replaced with excitement as he noticed who was sitting at the table. "Mom! You stayed!" He shouted excitedly, before digging into his food. All his attention was focused on Emma, so he didn't notice the hurt expression flash across Regina's face at what he chose to call her, but Emma did.

"Yeah kid, your mom," and Emma flashed a quick look across at Regina as she used the title, "Asked me to stay the night since it was getting late, and it wouldn't have been safe to drive back. But I'm heading out after we're done with breakfast."

"What?" Henry asked, looking devastated, "But you can't just leave! Not with the," and he quickly flashed a look across the table, as if finally noticing his mother was there. "You know," he finished lamely. If Emma hadn't told Regina about the curse last night, his prevarication might have been more effective, but now Regina knew exactly what he didn't want her to find out.

"Sorry, but I have a job back in Boston," Emma said, looking as gentle as possible as she tried to let their son down easy. "I have responsibilities there, I can't just stay here. But I tell you what, I'll leave my number with your mom," and her continued emphasis on her title was slightly swaying her into Regina's good graces, "And if there's ever anything you guys need, she can call me, alright?"

"But she'll never let me call you!" Henry shouted in response before he grabbed his backpack and ran out of the room.

Regina stalked into the police station. "Graham, we have a problem, Henry has -" she began to say, but cut herself off when she saw Emma Swan sitting in the chair next to Graham's desk, pressing an ice pack to her bloody forehead. "What happened to you?" she said in place of her aborted sentence.

"I found Miss Swan here in her car a little while ago, which she ran off the road and crashed into the welcome sign at the edge of town," Graham answered for Emma.

"For the last time, I didn't run off the road," Emma said exasperatedly, glaring at Graham. "I swerved to avoid the wolf that was standing in the middle of the street, and my car skidded into the sign before I could get it back under control."

Regina considered this new fact, as the sheriff told Miss Swan how that was impossible since there were no wolves anywhere nearby and her rebuttals about what she had seen. While wolves were indeed not found anywhere near Storybrooke, they were commonly found in the Forest. If there had been a wolf on the road out of town as Miss Swan said, then it would have come from the other world, and it may have been related to whatever had caused the storybook to appear to her son.

"Wait," Emma said, holding up the hand that wasn't still pressing an ice pack to her head to interrupt Graham's latest speech. "When you came in, you were saying something about Henry. Did something happen to him?" With that, Graham now also turned his head to look at Regina.

Regina flushed under both their attention, embarrassed at having momentarily forgotten her mission for coming down here in the light of more evidence of something supernatural going on in her town. "Well, as I was attempting to say before you two began your petty argument over the local wildlife," Regina sniped, eager to redirect her embarrassment into aggression, "Henry has disappeared and not shown up to school. Again. I had almost half believed he had run away with you, in point of fact, Miss Swan, until I found you here. Now I don't know where he could be."

Emma looked somewhat hurt at what Regina had just said, but responded gamely. "Well, Regina, obviously I didn't take him. I thought I had made it pretty clear that I didn't want to interfere in your relationship with Henry when I brought him back from Boston to you personally, but clearly I must be behind everything awful in your life."

"Ladies!" Graham quickly interrupted Regina when she drew back to yell at Emma again, "I know you're both on edge from what's happened today, and from yesterday, but the important thing now is focusing on finding Henry."

Emma slumped down in her seat, taken aback and slightly shamed. "You're right. Sorry Regina, I guess I'm still a little worked up from the car crash earlier," she apologized, "Let me make it up to you and help find Henry."

"And what, Miss Swan," Regina hissed out between her teeth, unable to refrain from getting the last word in, "Makes you think that you know Henry well enough to know where he might be?"

"Nothing," Emma said, firming herself up beneath Regina's fierce glare, "I don't know Henry at all. But I make my living as a bail bondswoman and a bounty hunter. Finding people is my job. So, let me help."

"Very well," Regina said, "If you want to help, then where should we begin?"

As Emma explained how their first step should be to check his computer and email for anyone he was talking to, Regina let her eyes roam around slightly, and noticed a large book on the desk near her. Could it be the story book that had caused her so much trouble? When Emma finished explaining her plan, she and the Sheriff both stood up and began walking towards the door, and Regina gestured them in front of her, to give her a chance to look at the book on the desk while both their backs were turned. It had the title "Once Upon A Time" inscribed on the cover, so Regina quickly grabbed it and placed it into her oversize purse before falling into step behind the other two.

While Emma and Graham were busying themselves with her son's computer, Regina settled down on the opposite side of the room. She was sure she wouldn't have much time right now, but she wasn't sure how many more opportunities she would have with this book, and she needed the clues it could provide her as soon as she could get them. And as she flipped through the pages, she grew more concerned. Regina had made it something of a hobby to look up different versions of fairy tales while in this world, and had found many adaptations, from Grimm to Disney and everything in between. But the stories contained in this book had details of what had happened in the Forest that, to the best of her knowledge, were found in no variant of the stories that had been written in this world. Which meant that the book in front of her was indeed an artifact of the Enchanted Forest, either translated directly over from that realm or created here by someone who remembered it. And, what was worse, the book, as so many other story books did, contained pictures of the stories it depicted. And her face was clearly recognizable in some of the images of herself in the old days.

It was several hours later when they finally managed to track Henry down. He had hid himself out on the castle shaped playground near the beach, and Emma Swan had managed to track him down to there somehow. Regina finally got Henry tucked into the police cruiser they had all driven over in, and left Graham to watch over him while she went to "thank" Emma. She walked up next to the blonde woman, and matched her pose of leaning against the fence around the park. They sat in silence for a few moments, watching Graham crouch next to the open door of the police car and Henry talk excitedly to him. Regina would have to approach this conversation carefully. Emma had explained her "superpower" to her earlier, and while the other woman may believe it to be nothing more than intuition and an uncanny grasp of body language, Regina, one of the most powerful witches in any realm, recognized a description of a latent magical talent when she heard one.

"Thank you," Regina finally said. "For helping to find Henry. I'm sure we would have found him eventually, but you certainly made the search faster."

Emma snorted. "Well, that certainly started off sounding sincere," she said, and then softened immediately after. "But thanks. I know it can't be easy having me around, and I really will get out of your town just as soon as my car's good to go. You won't have to worry about me being in your hair for much longer."

There was another silence, a little longer this time, before Regina started speaking again.

"This morning, when we were talking before breakfast, you mentioned that you hadn't really gotten a good look at the story book of Henry's. When we were in the police station, I saw it sitting on the desk," Regina said before Emma quickly raised a hand in interruption.

"I swear, I wasn't lying to you, I really hadn't seen it. Henry left it in the car last night, and I only noticed it there when I was on the road out of town. I had the accident right after, and so I brought it with me to the station to return to you," she said.

Regina nodded her head, and continued. "I wasn't accusing you, dear. I was just letting you know how I got my hands on it." And with that statement, Regina drew the book from her purse and passed it over to the blonde. "While you and Sheriff Graham were looking at Henry's computer, I took a look through it. And, honestly, after looking through it, I can see how he could come to the conclusion that I was the evil queen. The pictures of the queen in the book bear a definite resemblance to me." Emma began flipping through the book, somewhat interested while Regina spoke.

"It could have been just a coincidence," Regina continued, "But when I looked up the title online on my phone, I couldn't find any record of it anywhere. And when I looked through the book some more, I noticed something interesting. There is no ISBN on the cover, or publisher information listed inside. There is no author listed, no preface or dedications in the front of the book."

Emma hissed in a breath of air as she quickly flipped the book over to look at the front and back covers and front pages to verify each fact as Regina stated it. "What are you saying?" she whispered.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that Henry found that book," Regina continued. "That book was never published. Rather, it was never published publically, it must be from a private printing. I think someone placed that book specifically where Henry would find it. And the only motive I can think of to do so, is to drive a wedge between my son and I. Which is why I'm asking you for your help. You proved to be a capable detective today. I need someone with those talents, someone I can trust implicitly, to help me find who wrote this book and gave it to Henry."

"You trust me?" Emma asked in a small voice, disbelief clear on her face.

"As you keep mentioning, you helped bring my son back home from Boston. Isn't that enough?" Regina asked, but at the continued look of incredulity on Emma's face, Regina sighed, and continued. "You haven't been to town, not ever, before yesterday when you brought Henry here. Whoever placed this book in my son's life did so well before then. Therefore, it couldn't have been you. And once I ruled you out as the mastermind behind this plot, your actions have been nothing but helpful to me, and to improving my relationship with my son."

Regina pushed herself off of the fence, and took a few steps forward towards Henry and Graham before turning around to face Emma. "I think that your arrival here isn't a coincidence either. The last pages in the book describe how a savior will appear to break the curse of the evil queen. And how that savior is named Emma," Regina said, and looked Emma straight in the eyes. The blonde's eyes widened. "If someone is trying to take my son away from me, I think they might be using you to do it. Which is why I want to make sure you are on my side, not theirs, whoever they may be."

Regina gave the younger woman a moment to think over what she had said before she continued. "Your car won't be fixed until tomorrow at the earliest, so please think this over. I know it's a lot to ask of you when we've only just met, but please consider staying in Storybrooke. Sheriff Graham has been continually mentioning how he could use a Deputy to help out around town, and between your skills as a detective and history as a bounty hunter, I'm sure he won't hesitate to offer you the job if you choose to stay in town. Especially not when you have a recommendation from the Mayor. And I'm sure that my-" Regina hesitated for a moment before forcing herself to change her word choice, "Our son, would appreciate you staying as well." She could see in Emma's eyes as she made her decision, even though Regina was sure she wouldn't officially say that she was willing to stay until later.

This was a dangerous path. Regina had long suspected that Henry's birth mother was the one who could break her curse, and her read through the book earlier had all but confirmed that suspicion. Inviting her to stay in town seemed almost insane, but her priorities were different now than they had been all those years ago when she had first enacted it. Her victory over Snow White and all the others had dulled the tremendous sense of loss and pain within her heart, but it had not brought her happiness. That had gone away with Daniel's death, and had not returned until she had held Henry in her arms. The curse was not her happy ending, as she had first believed, Henry was. And she would fight with every weapon in her arsenal to keep him hers, even if that meant courting disaster by asking Emma to stay in town.


End file.
